


18 | a percabeth oneshot

by eszuken



Series: percabeth oneshots!! [5]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Birthday, F/M, Idiots in Love, Implied Sexual Content, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, New York City, Summer, Underage Drinking, almost in college, percabeth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 19:13:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28675773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eszuken/pseuds/eszuken
Summary: “I’M EIGHTEEN!” I yelled into the night as Annabeth popped the champagne bottle spraying me with alcohol. She laughed running around and taking sips of the drink while also pouring some on me.I chased her around and we laughed like little kids around the beach. I caught and tackled her, hauling her over my shoulder, going deeper into the water and dumping her in.-in which it’s percy’s 18th and annabeth plans a fun day for him.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Series: percabeth oneshots!! [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2110911
Comments: 1
Kudos: 19





	18 | a percabeth oneshot

Now, I don’t care what anyone says. The best way to wake up on your eighteenth birthday, is holding the love of your life in your arms.

It’s a bit hard to enjoy it when her curly hair was in your face and mouth, but it smelled so incredibly good I really didn’t care.

I woke up first. The alarm was set to go off at 5:30 am, but for some reason my body decided to wake me up at five.

I brushed Annabeth’s hair out of my face and carefully wiggled out of the way she was attached to me. I stared at her. The city lights outside were the only thing lighting up my bedroom, as the sun had not risen yet.

Because we were supposed to get going at six, I decided to let Annabeth sleep a bit. She is the prettiest sleeper, I swear.

I threw on shorts, a windbreaker and running shoes and sat on my floor scrolling through instagram. 

“Happy birthday.” A sleepy voice said not so longer later.

I looked up and smiled. “Thank you.”

Annabeth sat up in my bed and stretched. “I slept so well.” She sighed.

We didn’t really do much last night, but we both sleep better when we’re together.

She got up. “I'm keeping this shirt.”

Annabeth was changing into running clothes while telling me all about the exciting day she had planned.

Truth be told, I kind of hate birthdays. Every year it was just me and a blue cake, but now it was me, a blue cake, and Annabeth. It doesn’t really get any better than that.

“This run is going to be amazing!” Annabeth said quietly, trying not to wake my sleeping family members. 

“I can’t wait to check out the campus more,” she said, pulling on shorts, totally immune to the fact she was half naked. After finishing changing she looked at me who was looking at her putting her hair up.

“You’re very quiet. Something wrong?”

“No. Today just feels so good, plus it is almost six am.”

Annabeth laughed quietly. “You love running with me though, don’t you?”

“Uh duh.” I said standing up. “Let’s go.”

Me and Annie were one of those active couples. Not in the annoying way, I just feel like we’re always going on runs together or playing some type of sport together. Like yesterday, we played almost five hours of tennis just trying to one up each other. Probably the reason we both slept so well.

It was a surprise when we got back to my house and Annabeth was allowed to sleep over. Mom was nice only because it was the night before my eighteenth.

It was one time we were caught making out in my room and suddenly we can’t be trusted again, like what?

Anyway, today we both had the bright idea to take the small run to Central Park at six am and watch the sunrise.

We ran together not saying much, just feeling the breeze of the morning air before the world got up and started getting busy again.

When we got there we sat on the grass in our favourite picnic spot breathing hard.

“Make sure to stretch.” I reminded Annie. If anything pisses me off more it’s when she forgets to stretch. Because that means I have no running partner for the next five days.

She chugged her water and started stretching along with me. “Maybe it would have been more fun if we biked.” She said.

“I thought the run felt nice.” I shrugged.

Six am is weird. For some reason there’s never something to talk about. It's just short conversations and comfortable silence. I like that though.

Annabeth pulled out her phone soon enough and started snapping photos of the sunrise and me. She set up the phone on a tree and ran back as the timer counted down. 

We took a few photos. (Which I will be posting and making my lockscreen.)

We did some peace signs, some kisses, and I tried mooning the camera once then Annie got mad. 

It was bright and the city was awake as we made the run back to my house. To my surprise everyone was still sleeping.

“I’m going to shower, then you can, and we can make breakfast. Good?” Annie proposed.

I frowned, gathering my clothes for the day. “We aren’t showering together?”

Annabeth smacked me with her water bottle. “Ow, what the fuck!” I laughed running out of the room.

After we both showered (separately) and changed, we headed downstairs and made some breakfast.

Hold on, let me back track. 

Annabeth has decided to take on the role of “proud mom” for my birthday, so that means she takes pictures every second she gets, and lays out the day plan for me.

I wasn’t really complaining when she made me take mirror pictures with her because to be honest, our fits were hot as fuck.

Annie looks good in everything, but today she was rocking a simple white dress that came down to her mid thigh. It had a low scoop kind of neckline with cute little lace trimming. Oh, the short puffed sleeves had those too. She also carried a tote bag and had earrings on all of her many piercings. 

For her birthday last month, one of the presents I got her we’re these lego necklaces and when you put them together they make a heart, so I was wearing mine and she was wearing hers. She also wore Nike Air Max’s, and her hair tied up loosely with hairs framing her face.

Now, what I was wearing was so much more boring compared to the angel outfit she was wearing, but I’ll keep it brief. 

I wore lightweight cream coloured pants and the same Air Max’s Annabeth had on. My top was a short sleeve button down -I left the top four buttons undone- and it was white. Basically, I was matching with Annabeth which is why I didn’t mind taking that mirror selfie. We look cute as fuck!

We went downstairs soon after and started cooking breakfast for when everyone woke up. I honestly just wanted to seem extra grateful for when I opened my gifts.

Annabeth and I decided to make eggs, french toast, smoothies, and oatmeal.

“Do you regret picking NYU?” Annabeth asked when sitting on the counter while I made the French toast.

I kept my focus on the food. “No. Why?”

“I don’t know.”

But I know Annie better than anyone. I turned down the heat on the stove and looked at her. “What’s up?”

She shrugged and looked at her dangling feet. “Nothing.”

“Well it’s definitely something with a look on your face like that.” I teased. I walked over to her and put my hands on her knees. “Do you regret picking Columbia?”

Annie shrugged, which made me worried. It had been her dream school for as long as I could remember. “Annabeth. Tell me what’s up.”

She looked up. “I don’t know. I’m just going to miss you while you’re at NYU.”

This was a conversation we hadn’t really had that we definitely should’ve. When I got accepted into NYU I knew I wouldn’t be able to steer towards another school. The same went with Annabeth when she got into Columbia. 

We faintly talked about it, but it was always kind of when old people asked.

You know those questions you get when you get into university and it’s a never ending cycle of, “where are you going to school?” And “what are you studying?”

Well, it’s questions like that that brought up questions like, “why aren’t you guys going to the same school?”

We always just said something on how aren’t even that far apart, and that was kind of the end of it. I was going to miss not being with Annie everyday, and most days we would be too busy to take the thirty minute train to each other. But, we will make it work. I have faith in us more than anything.

“And I’m going to miss you while you’re at Columbia. But Annabeth, at least we aren’t across the country right? And I promise I’ll love you if you're thirty minutes away, or thirty hours.”

She smiled and nodded. “I can’t believe I’m going to have to make friends. I hang out with you everyday.”

I laughed because it was true. “Same goes for me. It’ll be fun tho, promise.” I kissed her and went back to making the French toast.

Soon, everything was plated on the table and we were finishing up doing dishes and arguing about if Harry and Hermione in Harry Potter should have been a couple, when Estelle came pounding down into the kitchn.

“Annabeth!” She squealed running into the kitchen and jumping onto her. 

Annabeth picked her up and spun her around. “Hey Estelle!”

“Hello,” she giggled. 

I was offended. I really was. These days I swore Estelle didn’t even like seeing my face anymore. I might have to stop bringing Annie around, Estelle is my main girl.

“I’ll just keep washing these dishes...” I huffed.

“Oh thank you, Percy.” Annie kissed my cheek.

Her and Estelle walked out of the kitchen in deep conversation, as I was left gaping incredulously at them.

“Man I am stuffed!” I said leaning back in my chair.

Annabeth took a sip of her smoothie, narrowing her eyes at me. “You barely ate anything.”

I patted my stomach jokingly. “False. I had a banana. And coffee.”

Mom annoyingly dished french toast and strawberries on my plate. First world problems, I know. “You made all this food and you won’t even eat it.” She shook her head.

I sat up picking at my food. “When are we opening presents?” 

I didn’t mean to say that out loud. I swear.

“Really, Percy?” Mom said, giving me ‘the look.’

Basically saying I should shut the hell up.

I ate my food in silence thinking about how Harry and Hermione really should have been together, when Paul spoke up. “Since you are so eager I guess we can give some presents now.”

I gasped. “Yes!”

First I opened Paul’s. It was nothing surprising to be honest. I literally begged him to get it for me.

That’s right, I begged for a twenty pack of cough drops. 

Halls cough drops are so delicious for absolutely no reason. Like the cherry ones? Stellar.

I opened the box and there it was. A fun-size pack of Halls. 

“Yes!” I yelled. 

“What is it?” Estelle cried impatiently. 

“It’s candy.” I mocked in her face. 

“Can I have some?” She asked.

I shrugged. The answer was no, but if I made her cry Mom might take my gift away so I just said, “maybe later.”

“Percy, Halls is not candy.” Annabeth said. She was staring at me in surprise like she couldn’t believe she was dating me. I knew that look so well. 

“But it tastes so fucking good!” I smiled. She shook her head holding back a laugh. 

“Language.” Paul said sternly.

Next I opened my moms gift. 

If anybody knows me at all, they know that if there’s one thing I love it’s caffeine. Coffee, energy drinks, you name it. But the thing I love most is overpriced coffee.

And so, I almost fainted when I saw that it was a one hundred dollar gift card to Starbucks.

“Are you joking.” I deadpanned.

Mom laughed. “I was scared you would go broke spending so much money at Starbucks... so there you go.”

I wrapped her in a hug. “I love you so much.”

When I pulled away I kissed her on the cheek. “Honestly, mom of the year award.”

She shook her head smiling. “Happy birthday. I’m so proud of you.”

“Proud of you, son.” Paul clapped me on the back.

Next was Annabeth’s present. I told her she didn’t have to get me anything since she planned a whole birthday for me, but she insisted.

It was a huge brown box that I cut open with scissors. The first thing I saw was more boxes, and picked a random one.

On the lid it was printed tiny, “Open when…”

“Annabeth…” I whispered. I opened the box and it was organized in smaller boxes that had labels on them.

“Open when you miss me” “Open when you’re happy” “Open when you’re having a difficult time,” things like that.

“Oh that is just adorable!” Mom smiled.

I was honestly just shocked. Probably the sweetest thing I have ever received.

“Can I open one right now?” I asked her. 

“Be my guest.” She grinned.

I opened the “open when you want to remember,” box and picked a random slip of paper.

Do you remember when we went for that late night drive, and you told me such a funny joke that I peed my pants your whole car smelled like piss?

I snorted and burst out laughing.

“What does it say?” Paul and Mom asked at the same time.

“Oh um,” I looked at Annie and we both couldn’t stop laughing. “Nothing. Thank you, Annie. I love you.”

I leaned over the table and kissed her head. “There’s some more. I hope you remember our trip to Canada last month.”

I grinned. Last month for Annabeth’s birthday we went to Toronto, Ontario for a week and a half. It was honestly the most fun I’ve ever had and I miss Tim Hortons more than I had missed my mom.

The next thing I pulled out was another box. And in it was a fat little black book.

On the front it read, “Toronto. Summer ‘19”

I opened it and it was a handmade scrapbook of us in Toronto. From us in the hotel, from touring the city, to us on the train. 

It was a bunch of pictures with little passages that Annie had written, and the whole book was filled.

“Oh my god,” I said, flipping through the pages. I looked up at her and she was holding back a smile. “I love you. I know I said that but I have no idea what else to say.” I told her.

Everyone laughed. I looked in the box and there was a shoebox. It had a Nike symbol on it so I already kind of knew what it was.

New Nike running shoes, I’ll spare the details so you don’t get bored out of your mind.

But, I kissed Annie and Estelle told us we were gross and then Mom and Paul told us to go do something with our day.

Everyone soon filed out and Annie and I cleaned up a bit. While we were putting stuff away, Estelle ran in.

“I have your present, Percy!”

I looked down at her. “Yeah? What is it.”

From behind her back she pulled out a water gun.

“Estelle!” I jumped back. “What the hell are you doing with that in here?”

“It’s for you!” She handed me the gun. “And one for Annabeth, and for me.”

“I- Thank you?” I told her.

“You are welcome. Now let’s go.” She pulled my hand towards the front door.

“Where are we going?” I asked her looking back at Annabeth that was testing the gears of her gun.

“Water gun fight! That’s your present, silly.”

I suck complete ass at water gun fights.

Estelle and Annabeth had formed a silent truce and ganged up on me for my birthday! Totally unfair.

In the front yard of our apartment they absolutely demolished me. I don't even want to recount what happened. It's very humiliating .

Mom had come outside to get Estelle when she started crying because I got her hair wet. Like, isn’t that what she signed up for?

Now, Annabeth and I were laying in the hot Manhattan August weather drying off.

“Today has been so fun.” I turned my head on the pavement.

She looked at me too and smiled. “The day has barely started.”

“I would be fine if we left it at this and went to bed right now. Seriously.” 

Annabeth laughed. I love it when she does. Her whole face lights up and I somehow seem to fall in love with her all over again.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked.

“You.” I said.

She blushed. “What about me?”

“I don’t know. Just how beautiful you always look. Like, when you woke up this morning I didn’t think you could get any prettier wearing only my shirt, but now you’re here in the sunlight.”

Annabeth looked up at the sky and covered her face with her hands. “You are so sweet. Stop it.”

“You need to learn how to accept my compliments. Two years later and you are still telling me to shut up.” I smiled.

She huffed. “I can’t help it when you say cute shit like that.”

I laughed. “I was also thinking about, you know, us.”

“There is no us. I’m breaking up with you.” She looked at me.

I held back a smile. “Out of the blue? On my birthday?”

“Sorry, I found someone better.” She shrugged.

“What could get better than all of this?” I ran my hand through my hair.

Annabeth burst out laughing and so did I. “That was so gross!” She giggled.

“See! You could never break up with me.” I laughed playfully hitting her arm. “When we move in together what are you gonna do then?”

She smiled even more brightly at me as the laughter died down. “I love when you talk like that.”

I clasped her hand and gave a questioning look. 

“You know, like our future is bound to happen. You use ‘whens’ instead of ‘ifs’. I love that.”

I squeeze her hand. “Well how could I use ifs if I know it’s going to happen?”

The Columbia campus is actually really beautiful. 

Annabeth was giving me a whole breakdown of places we could meet and eat together whenever I take the train down here.

We decided on taking the train here just because of traffic.

We set up a picnic on campus and to be honest, this was actually the part of the day I was most excited for.

Annie and I have been obsessed with going on picnics for months now, and it usually just ended up with us eating fruit in silence while she put her head in my lap and read a book, and I would doze off because the coffee is simply never enough. 

Today, Annie packed everything and she really went all out.

We sat on the usual white sheet that we always did, but when she opened the picnic basket I almost screamed with joy.

There was a small blue cake with white icing that said happy birthday in Greek (half greek gang). We also had an assortment of cheese and crackers, (more than one type of cheese and cracker, I know best girlfriend ever) and so much fruit I might get fruit poisoning.

Annabeth also brought champagne glasses and sparkling water.

“No real alcohol?” I frowned.

She smiled and rolled her eyes, busy setting everything up. “I bet we’ll be doing lots of that later.”

I smiled and snapped some pictures of her in the sun setting up the picnic while she protested. I snapped some selfies and soon we everything was set up.

“Did you actually prepare all of this?” I asked, my face stuffed with cake. 

She watched me with a smile, just staring at me eat everything on the blanket. “I love you so much.”

I looked up and stopped chewing. “I love you too.” Bits of cake fell out of my mouth but man, you have not tasted this icing.

Annabeth ate some fruit here and there and some little pieces of the cake.

“Why am I eating everything? Aren’t you hungry?” I asked her. All of it was basically done at this point but now I kind of felt bad for finishing everything.

She waved off the question. “I’m fine. The fruits and crackers were more than enough. I’m just glad you enjoyed the food.” She smiled.

“Well if you’re sure...” 

I helped her pack up the remains of the food, and just like I predicted when I layed down she put her head right on my lap and opened her book.

I propped myself up and grabbed her arm and licked it.

“What the hell, percy?” She snatched her arm away. “What was that for?”

I grinned. “Just making sure you put on sunscreen. You did.”

She stared at me in disbelief and layed back down. “You could have asked the simple question, ‘hey Annie, did you put on sunscreen?’”

I shrugged and laid back down feeling the sun on my skin.

Whenever I lay down, and the world seems quiet, you know there’s nothing on my mind, nothing I really have to worry about; I think about Annabeth.

I know I talk about her a lot, but I don’t think that girl will ever understand how much I truly love her. And trust me, I’ve said shit like this to her before, and I know she loves me just the same but I wish she could get it into her head that I really do love her.

Our two year anniversary is technically tomorrow, but two years ago today, we kissed for the first time.

I have liked her since elementary school and I never knew I would be here, with her head in my lap, spending a beautiful day with the most beautiful girl.

I could go on about her for hours, talking about all the little things she does that makes me so incredibly happy, the way so effortlessly washes all my worries away. But, we would be here for hours so hopefully she does some of those little things throughout the day, and I’ll point them out to you.

It felt like about a minute after I closed my eyes, Annabeth shook me awake.

“Wake up.” She said. “We should get going. It’s not good to be in the sun for too long.”

There’s one. Always caring for stuff I barely even think of.

I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. “What time is it? God, I'm almost sweating.”

“Close to three.” She said. I folded up the sheet and shoved it into my backpack along with the water bottles and other little things. 

“Want me to carry your bag? Or the basket.” I offered as we walked to the station.

She handed me her tote bag. 

Whenever somebody is off with Annabeth I can always just tell. But the thing with her is that you can’t just always come out and say it, sometimes she’ll come to me first, or sometimes I just have to let her know that I’m here for her.

I won’t pretend like I haven’t seen her worrying more and more over the past few weeks. I mean we are moving away in like a week, but it’s to the point where I think it’s something more than just her anxiety or moving away.

She’s more quiet now, more distant but not enough that I can really point it out.

“Are you sure you ate enough?” I asked as we descended the stairs to the train. “We’re gonna be walking a lot in the mall and carrying all this stuff.”

“I’m not hungry.” She said.

“We can stop at that acai bowl place you love at the food court.” I pressed. She looked pretty exhausted, we had been out in the sun for hours. “And the sun..”

“Percy.” She snapped. “I’m fine.”

I looked away and rocked on my feet waiting for the train. In my peripheral vision I could see her playing with her necklace and scratching her hair line with a distressed look on her face.

The train came and we boarded. Luckily, there was one seat and I made Annabeth sit down while I stood. She looked like she was about to pass out.

I gave her my water bottle and she chugged it. 

“Fan yourself with your book. When we get to the mall it’ll be better.”

“I’m seriously okay. It’s just hot.”

“Exactly why you aren’t okay.” I said.

We got off the train and walked to and into the mall. Annie pushed the picnic basket onto me and ran straight into the washroom.

About fifteen minutes later she came out with actual colour in her face, so that was good. “I threw up.” Was the first thing she said. And we started walking around the mall.

There’s one thing that pisses me off that she does, and she does it a lot. That’s not taking care of herself.

She’s always taking care of, like, a homeless person’s mom, before taking care of herself. She brushes everything off like it’s nothing and pretends she doesn’t need a break.

Don't get me wrong, my girlfriend is the strongest person I know, but even Hercules needed a break sometimes.

“Do you feel any better? Is there anything else bothering you?” I asked her when we were in Nike and she was looking at sweatshirts she could buy me.

“Yeah I feel good. And no, I’m okay.” Brushed off. Just like that.

“Why didn’t you tell me you weren’t feeling good? We could have left the park earlier.” I leaned against the clothing rack.

“Because,” she said, “I knew we would be leaving sometime and it’s not like I passed out or anything.”

I scoffed. “You almost did.”

She looked up at me with a glare. “Would you drop it?”

I looked around the store making sure one was around us. “I'm worried about you.”

“Well you don’t always have to!” She said angrily. “If you don’t want to be here, let’s just go.” 

I stared at her and she stared at me. Then, she picked up a hoodie off the rack impatiently, “you like this?”

Annabeth buying shit for me turned into me saying I don’t need anything, which turned into her buying me stuff anyway, which turned into her buying herself stuff.

Which also means two hours later and about twelve soft pretzels later, I was carrying twelve bags and she was carrying about nine.

Add on the picnic basket and personal bags, my fucking shoulders hurt so bad.

We did stop for Boba and when we were sitting there, Annabeth told the worker it was my birthday. We got our drinks for free and the worker also snapped a cute photo of us.

When we made it onto the subway it was a little pass five thirty. 

There were two empty seats but they were across from each other so we just sat apart.

I stared at Annabeth once again. She was looking at something on her phone, probably making sure we were following the itinerary for today or reading some article.

She played with her lego necklace with her other hand, deep in concentration. I took this moment to secretly take a picture of her.

I've been racking my brain for hours trying to figure out if she’s mad at me or something. All I could think of is she’s feeling uneasy about not going to the same school. I thought we talked about it and were in good agreement.

We got off at the stop that takes about three minutes to walk back to my apartment. Once we filed in the door we both crashed down by the doorway.

“Percy? Annabeth?” Mom came to the door looking at us oddly. “What’s wrong?”

“It's so hot and ughhh,” Annabeth mumbled.

“Come on, let’s get some water.” Mom said helping us up.

After we sat down at the table talking about our day and regaining our strength, Annabeth said she was going to change.

“I wanna wear something more comfortable before we leave again.” She said getting up. 

I looked at her with a curious face. “What?” She questioned.

“Nothing.” I said quickly. And she made a weird face at me and disappeared down the hallway to my room.

Once we heard the door shut my mom immediately fired at me with questions. 

“Are you guys okay? Did anything happen?” She asked.

I sighed and took a sip of my water. “Your guess is as good as mine. Earlier she got a little too much sun and threw up, a whole other story.” I waved off. “But now I don’t know, she’s been acting weird for weeks.”

“And you didn’t ask her anything?” My mom says like she’s disgusted in me.

“Of course I have! How could you say that? I ask her everyday and she just gets all annoyed at me. Like distant. I’m worried she’s not even eating a lot.”

“Hmm,” mom thought. “Well I don’t know, anything about school? Did you upset her?”

“No, I'm almost certain I didn’t. It could be about school though. Whenever I bring it up or ask if she’s really sad about going to different schools, we just fight.” I run my hand through my hair.

“We’ll ask her if she’s mad at you, Percy. You can’t leave things to just fizzle out all the time, it builds up and becomes even worse.

“And if she isn’t mad at you and it is school, just try and be there for her. I know she had a rough upbringing, so being away from one of the last people she loves probably wouldn’t make her smile.” 

I nodded, gears turning in my mind. “Thanks mom.” I wrapped her in a hug.

The door to my bedroom opened and Annabeth came out. She changed into white pants and a colourful windbreaker. “Who died?”

I pulled away from my mom. “No one, she’s just so proud of me for not getting into too much legal trouble by the time I reached eighteen.”

Annabeth smiled. “I’m proud of you too. Now go get changed, I think your friends are excited to see you.”

“Make good choices!” Mom yelled at us from the window as we hopped into my car.

I had changed into the new blue hoodie that Annabeth bought me and black sweats. I secretly packed bathing suits because I hoped I could cheer her up with a little something by the end of the night.

“I hope you don’t plan on drinking too much tonight,” I told her as I backed out of the parking lot. “Seeing that you ate a few grapes and called it a day.”

She rolled her eyes scrolling through her playlist trying to find good songs.

“Annabeth.” I said, driving down the busy roads.

“Percy.” She replied.

“Can I ask you something before we jam out to music? And can you answer truthfully.”

She looked up with a serious look in her eyes. “What is it?”

“Are you mad at me? Like actually just yes or no, did I do something wrong?” I said.

There was a beat of silence and she said, “no.” And turned on Greek Tragedy by The Wombats.

Jason and Thalia’s house was the best place to do about anything.

Seeing that their parents were super chill, and Thalia was the cool older sister, we partied over there way too much.

Being late to your own kickback kind of rocks, because the attention is on you even more.

“Percy! Happy birthday my man.” Jason hugged me. “And Annabeth, beautiful as always.”

“Such a flirt.” Annabeth rolled her eyes and left my side almost eagerly. She disappeared as I talked with Jason.

“You guys okay?” Jason asked.

“Yeah. We’re good.” But as the words left my mouth, I wasn't so sure.

We went to the patio where everyone already was. Leo, Piper, Nico, Hazel, Frank, Thalia, and Grover were all in the back hanging out.

“Holy shit, Leo.” I said as he came over to me. “Where did you manage to get all this alcohol?”

“Happy eighteenth, dumbass. And I know a guy.” He shrugged. “Now, ready to do some illegal shit?”

We sadly didn't really do that much illegal stuff. We sat by the fire just eating and hanging out and drinking.

By the fire nights, as we call it, are always fun. We just tell stupid stories, play inappropriate games like cards against humanity or what do you meme, while hanging out and laughing harder than we ever have before.

“No no,” Piper started. “Do you guys remember back at that New Years party when Annabeth got black out drunk and went batshit crazy though?”

Everyone burst out into laughter. “She really dragged us to that college frat boy party and beat that one guy in beer pong!” Thalia said through laughs and everyone just laughed even harder.

“Wait,” Frank said. “Kyle?”

Honest to god, have never had more fun in my life. 

“No, but do you guys remember when Hazel smoked weed for the first time?” I ruffled her hair. 

“Fuck you, Percy.” She said flipping me off, as everyone laughed and I flung my arm over her shoulder bringing her closer.

“I can’t help but embarrass the baby of the group. My little junior.” I cooed like she was a child. 

“Don't you have taxes to pay?” She retorted and everyone just laughed even harder.

“Come on guys,” Jason said. “Fire out some embarrassing stories about the birthday boy!”

“Annabeth and Jason probably have the best ones. And g-man.” Leo said.

“I’ll start,” Jason stood up taking a swig of whatever he was drinking. “Okay, back in freshman year-“

“HEY!” I already knew where this story was going. Whatever I do, I can never erase it from my history.

“Back in freshman year,” Jason continued as everyone laughed. “Percy had a thing for this girl. Y’all remember Michelle?”

I put my head in my hands as Hazel ruffled my hair.

“So of course, we were at a party and Michelle was there right, so Percy goes up to her, and I’m not even shitting you, asks her if she wants to have sex.”

Leo spit out his drink laughing. “Wait, did she say yes?”

“Are you kidding?” I said. “Tell them the rest Jason.”

“Then,” Jason said in a fit of laughter. “Then she called percy a freak, poured a white claw on him, and told him to fuck off. And since it was her house her older brother kicked us out.” Everyone burst out in laughter and I blushed. Hazel punched me in the arm.

“Annabeth, tell us one of yours!” Piper laughed.

“Oh I don’t know...” She said. 

“Come one girl! You know him better than anyone. Any embarrassing sex stories?” Piper teased.

Everyone laughed as Annabeth and I blushed.

“Okay fine so, this was when we started dating. Basically, we were drunk at Percy's house and no one was home. So we went up to his room and you know, started making out.”

A smile grew on my face. Then it fell because I remember this story.

“Wait Annabeth-“

“Then clothes started coming off, as they do.” She continued.

Leo and Jason whistled and the others chuckled. 

“Okay so then we were just making out, half naked, and this was like our first time doing this really and-“

“Annabeth, I swear to fucking god if you-“

“Percy just says, ‘wait’ in the middle of feeling me up basically and goes, ‘wouldn’t it be kind of hot if we got caught?’”

“BRO.” Leo, Grover, Jason, and Frank say at the same time.

“That’s outta pocket...” Thalia says as Hazel and Piper mumble, “what the fuckkkk,” while holding in a laugh.

“It wasn’t like- like in that way!” I sputtered. “You make me look bad! Okay I was drunk and was scared my mom was going to come home.” I turned to Annie whose head was in Piper's lap as they shook with laughter.

“Percy, you serious?” Grover asks.

“Fuck off.” I flip him off.

Jason came up on one side of me, swinging one of his arms around my neck. “You seriously get off at the idea of getting caught?” Jason whispers in my ear.

“How did you even pull, Annabeth?” Hazel asks in surprise. 

I'm not even going to explain myself here because it really isn’t any of your business.

“Fuck all of you. Honestly.” I get up and walk over to the drinks table as they apologize.

“Awh, Percy we’re sorry!” Hazel shouts.

I wave of their protests and was deciding if a vodka cran is a valid drink, or if I wanted straight vodka, when Annabeth walked over.

“Hey stranger.” I said picking a small  
bottle of Smirnoff’s.

She smiled shyly. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry.”

I plastered a confused look on my face. “For?”

“For telling that story. And ditching you tonight.” She looked away.

I stared at her, then burst out laughing. “Are you kidding?”

“What?”

“The stories were funny; I can handle some embarrassment. And you’re not ditching me, Annabeth we’re all hanging out together.”

She relaxed her shoulders and took my drink, opening it. I grabbed her hand and pulled her in front of me hugging her waist, and burying my head in her neck.

“But, I do miss hugging you,” I mumbled. 

Another thing I love about her. She lets me be all baby with her. I have no shame.

She laughed lightly and turned her head to kiss mine. “Look over here!” Hazel called to us.

Annabeth turned her head with a small smile on her face, and I lifted mine with a grin. Hazel snapped a picture and smiled. “Best couple award goes to you guys.”

I kissed Annie’s jaw and cheek a few times forcefully as she laughed and pushed me away.

Together we made our way back to the fire and Annabeth sat between my legs while leaning back on my chest.

It wasn’t long after we decided to play cards against humanity and Annabeth had already fallen asleep on me.

“What did you two do today that was so tiring?” Nico said, dealing out cards.

I shrugged and looked down at Annabeth. “We went on a run at six am and we were outside like all day. Plus we spent over two hours walking around the mall.”

“Did you guys fight?” Piper asked.

I picked up my cards and looked at them smiling because they were so incredibly stupid. “No. No we didn’t fight.”

The game started and we tried not to laugh too hard so Annabeth could sleep. Funny pictures were taken and drinks just kept coming.

It was kind of hard to keep in my laugh when the card was “My name is Peter Parker. I was bitten by a radioactive spider, and now I’m ____” and Jason put down the card, “A teenage boy gunning for a handjob.”

Everyone burst out into drunk laughter and after that we were kind of just shuffling through the cards to find the funniest ones.

When I checked the time it was past midnight. “Wake up, Annie. We gotta go.”

Everyone was either inside watching a movie and drinking more, or outside here,just in drunk conversation.

“What?” She groaned opening her eyes. “Where?”

“I wanna take you somewhere, come on.” I jumped up and she took my hand standing up.

“Haven't you been drinking?” She asked.

“Not a lot I promise.” I found Jason and Piper watching a movie inside with Nico and Leo and Grover. “Hey guys, we’re heading out.”

“So soon?” Jason frowned. 

“There’s one more place we have to go.” I smiled.

Piper gave a look to Annabeth and she only shrugged and gave a little wave. “Don’t worry. We’ll get shit faced the night before we all leave.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Leo yelled.

We laughed. “Bye guys.” And Annie and I took off in my car.

The car ride was a mix of talking about random stuff like the best hotels we’ve ever stayed at, switching the song a minute into it, and screaming our lungs out to the music.

Right now, one of Annabeth’s favourite songs was playing. 8TEEN by Khalid.

This really isn’t the first time we put on a world tour worthy show while driving at night and screaming the words.

“Because I’m eighteen, and I still live with my parents!” 

“Yeah they weren’t like yours,” Annabeth pointed at me, “well yours were more understanding.” 

We laughed in sync together. “I never fell in love! I saved those feelings for you-“

Another thing I love about my girlfriend. How much fun she has with me. You would not believe all the stupid shit we do together on a daily basis, and I don’t know if I want to tell you.

Soon after our world tour, I lowered the music a bit and Annie went to sleep again. She had no idea where we were going, and I told her it might be a while.

After an hour of driving we finally made it and I couldn’t be happier. 

Long Island Beach.

I grabbed my backpack with everything we needed and opened the passenger seat door.

“Annabeth,” I whispered. “We’re here.”

She woke up and sighed. “Really? That was fast.”

I laughed and threw a bathing suit at her. “Put this on.”

We ran down to the beach, blankets and towels in hand. Immediately we planted our stuff where we thought it would be safe, and jumped in the cold water laughing.

We had a splashing war, and a water gun one too. My skill improved quite a bit.

Believe it or not, when you're by the water and it’s the middle of the night, it gets kind of chilly. So long story short, we didn’t stay in there for long.

As we ran back to the sand where our stuff was, I heard my phone ringing.

“Hey, Mom.” I said.

“Percy, where are you?”

I looked around and cringed. “Uhhh Jason’s. Why?”

“Because I called Piper to ask if you were still there and she said you and Annabeth left long ago.”

Annabeth’s eyes went wide, obviously hearing the conversation.

“We just went for a little drive.” I told her.

“Really? Where to?” Mom pressed.

“With no destination. Don’t worry, we aren’t lost.”

“Well if you know where you are I trust that you’ll be home in about half an hour?” 

I pursed my lips and rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah sure.”

“Good.” Mom hung up the phone and I groaned.

“We just got here, though.” Annabeth sighed.

I looked at her wrapped in a blanket and she handed me one. “Let’s worry about the consequences later.”

She laughed. “I knew you would say that!”

We sat together watching the horizon. It wasn’t that dark, I could still see Annabeth in the glow of the moonlight and also the lamp posts.

“You know, this might be our last peaceful night together before things start to get hectic.” I said quietly. I glanced at her, noticing the same look on her face whenever I brought up school.

“Yeah,” was all she said.

I sighed. It was really hard to see Annabeth struggling with something and thinking that she needs to keep it from me. I hope you know the feeling I’m talking about, maybe that’ll help you understand.

“Look annabeth,” I sighed, keeping my eyes straight ahead. “I'm not going to pretend like something isn’t going on between us, like there isn’t something bothering you. Because I know there is. I just want to know why you feel the need to keep it from me.”

She was silent for what felt like hours. Then when she spoke, she was crying. “I can’t depend on you for everything, Percy. You won’t always be around.”

I sat there in shock. That’s... really what this was about. Because now I feel like a complete idiot for not noticing before, and an even more terrible person for not making it known that I love her in some way that that thought wouldn’t even cross her mind.

“Is that why..” I started 

“Yes. I know you haven’t abandoned me but it still feels like you have, and I’m sorry but I couldn’t tell you.” She sobbed quietly.

“Annabeth... where is this coming from.” I looked at her and she looked at me and my heart broke.

Another thing I hate is when Annabeth is upset. When she cries and I start to cry.

“My step mom said I depend on you too much. And she’s right, I couldn’t even take care of myself when I got sick earlier.”

I sighed. Remember what I said about Annabeth not understanding the amount of love that I have for her? Yeah, this was one of those moments.

“It honestly-“ I struggled to find the correct words. “I hate that those thoughts have even crossed your mind. The idea that one day I may not be here for you? That’s complete bullshit, Annabeth. You are the most independent person I know, and I’m not just saying that. If I wasn’t here you would be completely fine on your own, you know why? Because you’ve been on your own before. But Annabeth, look at me.” 

She lifted her head trying to wipe away her tears. “But you aren’t on your own anymore, okay? I'm never, ever, going to abandon you. If we’re thirty minutes apart, or thirty hours I don’t care. Never feel like my love for you is less than.”

She threw her arms around my neck and cried into my shoulder. I held her tightly. “I'm sorry.” She whispered.

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” We pulled away and I looked into her eyes, holding her cheeks. “It’s not a crime to need people, especially when they want to help. So whenever you feel this way, or you're just having a hard time, promise that you’ll call me.”

She nodded. “I will. It’s going to be fun, with or without you.”

“Good thing it’s with me.” I wiped her tears off with my thumbs, pretending that they were windshield wipers. She giggled and pushed my hands away. “Now, turn that frown upside down.” I smiled.

After we had kind of recollected a little bit by just watching and listening to the waves, the best part of the night started.

Annabeth was digging through my bag and I was finding the champagne bottle when she said, “Happy two years.”

I looked up in shock. “Happy anniversary,” I smiled. “I love you.”

I handed her the bottle and she handed me the sparklers.

I lit the sparklers for us both and we laughed and teased each other with them.

As they died out we put them by our stuff and moved closer to the water.

“I’M EIGHTEEN!” I yelled into the night as Annabeth popped the champagne bottle spraying me with alcohol. She laughed running around taking sips of the drink while also pouring some on me. 

I chased her around and we laughed like little kids around the beach. Soon I tackled her and hauled her over my shoulder, going deeper into the water and dumping her in.

When she came above the surface she laughed and yelled, “fuck you, percy!”

We had a vicious water splashing war and we were laughing so hard it was difficult to breathe.

We were treading water at this point, and the water was almost up to our necks.

“I love you,” I breathed. “So fucking much.”

Annabeth smiled that beautiful smile of hers and swam close to me, our lips crashing together.

Her lips are the familiar ones I’ve kissed more times than I can count. But every time we kiss it feels like the first one, all over again.

Her lips are soft and remind of everything good. Everything I love. Because everything I love is right here.

We pulled away smiling and breathing hard, and soon disappeared under the water.

And let me tell you... it was the best underwater kiss of all time.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this long oneshot it took me way too long!
> 
> Sometimes we aren’t all ready for change, and when we get used to something and all of sudden you have to leave or change something about it, it feels like your whole world is falling apart.
> 
> It’s important to remember that there’s always someone that cares for you and loves you no matter where you are or go. Make sure to remember that, because you’re never really as lonely as you may think you are.
> 
> And if you can’t help but feel lonely, I get it. Try to find something that once made you happy and feel safe. For me, that’s Percy and Annabeth and everyone in PJO. I hope you can find your safe place.
> 
> I love you!  
> -Bri


End file.
